Waiting game
by ReeReeWithAngst
Summary: Nathan's crush isn't on ladybug, Marinette's given up on waiting, there are roses in her locker, and Adrien's late to the game. (Can't get a legit tell on how Nath's name is spelled)
1. Nathanael

**I'd never say I ship it more but Marinath will hold a happy little place in my heart. More to come!**

* * *

It was useless.

She didn't notice him. Didn't love him.

Marinette had been his first love.

Maybe he still had feelings for her.

It would be a damaged relationship, if it ever became one. He'd been so mad at her. Crossed out her pictures. But that wasn't really what he'd been getting rid of, he realized as he lay awake thinking about her. He'd wanted to banish that other version of himself. The version that had hurt her. He shuddered thinking about having hurt her. It was one of his deepest regrets. The other crossing out her pictures.

The beauty of art though is that things could be reimagined and improved.

So he set to work with pencils and erasers and drew his beautiful classmate. He didn't miss a single detail. As he drew he relaxed, and as he relaxed he made a decision. He looked around his sketch littered room and tested the words out loud.

"I still love Marinette." His eyes widened, and he set to work. All night he worked in charcoals and pastels. What came out of it was a masterpiece. Just like Marinette.

"This is against school code Nath..." Max warned as they stood near the lockers.

"What's against school code?" Kim slid up with a sly grin.

"Matters of the heart. In and out, she's not here and nobody will see us, if they did they wouldn't call us out."

"Alright."

"What are we doing?" Kim begged.

"Kim, keep watch. We're putting a note in my crush's locker." Kim grinned and kept watch as Max broke in expertly. Nathan placed the picture of roses and the note inside and shut the door, unnoticed as predicted.

"That's Marinette's locker." Kim noted.

"Yeah."

"So you really...?"

"Yeah."

"Good luck dude." Kim finally declared as they filtered into class.

He'd put his soul into that note. Of course he had.

"Marinette, take the picture as you will. I will not let resentment settle in my soul again. I hope at least that you pin up these roses and look at them every day. I can't draw them into reality like I once could. But I think we can agree that these are much better. I want to apologize for ever hurting you, for ever yelling and treating you like you betrayed me. I know you didn't. In reality you saved me. I adore you for that. Before you saved me I didn't truly adore you. I didn't know enough about you. When you saved me I noticed everything about you. Your glorious personality and the way you want to protect everyone, I know when you called on Cat Noir you just wanted to protect everyone from me. That you just wanted to bring back the real me. It matters so much that you would risk being hated to save my life. Thank you.

Marinette I don't need you to feel the same but I want you to know that I love you. I am in love with you.

Enjoy your roses.

Love, Nathaniel."

Now, he waited.

* * *

 **Hey do you like it? The she in the first line refers to his previous crush on Ladybug so... Enjoy. Oh and what about Adrinette? You'll see.**


	2. Marinette

**I'd never say I ship it more but Marinath will hold a happy little place in my heart. One more to come!**

* * *

It was useless.

He didn't notice her. Didn't love her.

Nathan had been the first to love her.

Could she let go of her feelings for Adrien?

She barely noticed the note in her locker. Was running late so she stuffed it in her bag next to Tikki. In class she allowed herself to think that it might be from Adrien. She didn't want to get caught with a note that might be read for the whole class. Adrien wouldn't like that. But between Alya talking quietly about the Ladyblog and the lesson she jotted notes for, she forgot about the note quickly.

"Marinette, you might want to read this!" Tikki insisted, holding up the paperclipped note when Marinette could finally check on her privately during lunch break.

"Oh yeah what is this?" She set her plate down and looked at the intricately drawn roses.

"I don't think that Adrien can do that..." She breathed, lifting the paper to read her admirer's note.

"Definitely not Adrien..." Her eyes widened and soon filled with tears. His words were so heartfelt. It was clear how he felt. How deeply he felt. So how did she feel?

She had a lot to think about during her walk back to school. A million thoughts causing her head to spin and her heart to race. As much as she wanted to interpret Adrien's little quirks as him committing his love to her for eternity, the signs just weren't actually there. Never had been. Not like breaking into her locker to put a love note and a picture she had pinned up as he requested. It would be difficult to explain to Alya after idolizing Adrien for nearly a year. But as she got closer her heart made a decision.

And when she got to school, she slid over to Nathan. Wrapped her arms around him.

"I will always save you." She whispered.

"And I love your 2D roses." She felt a few drops of wetness, he was crying too. And then he planted a kiss on her forehead. Her decision was sealed when she didn't pull away. She couldn't pull away.

Click.

The sound of a picture being snapped. She looked up at Chloe Bourgeois.

"Poor Marinette, now everyone's going to know what two freaks in love looks like." The she-demon cackled.

"Chloe. You're going to have a world of regrets when you grow up, but me? I'll never regret this." And she kissed him back, right on the lips. The moment was perfect. Full.

Explaining could wait, but her?

She was done waiting.


	3. Adrien

**To explain why Nathan remembers his villainy, I have a theory that Akumatized villains have dreams, probably some time later, that shows them how they behaved when things were beyond their control.**

 **Also, if requested I could do a bonus chapter of Alya reacting.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters and don't know who does.**

* * *

It was useless.

She didn't see him like that. Didn't love him.

Apparently, Marinette did.

Were there feelings for her somewhere, beyond his infatuation for Ladybug?

He wasn't smart. Wasn't that smart at least. Didn't understand. Boys rarely understood when a girl was in love with them. He'd barely come to grips with the fact that Ladybug had zero interest in him. That was cutting enough. He barely rose out of bed that morning. It was hard, but, for the first time ever his kwami actually encouraged him to get up.

"There are other fish in the sea." Plagg encouraged, probably realizing a moping Adrien was one that wasn't feeding him.

"Mph." He muttered tiredly as he pulled on cloth, personally hoping Paris wasn't in peril this morning because he didn't think he had Cat Noir in him today.

"Like Marinette." Plagg continued, scrounging around for cheese. Adrien stopped suddenly.

"What do you mean like Marinette?"

"She has a crush on you." Plagg said knowledgeably. Adrien was so flustered that he put his shoes on the wrong feet. The apparently all knowing Plagg said nothing about his shoes, so he didn't realize until Nino pointed it out in class.

After righting the wrong he examined Nino.

"Does Marinette have a crush on me?" He asked his best friend cautiously. She wasn't here yet, though some students drifted in, talking and laughing and something about some girl's locker.

"After a year you finally notice." Nino muttered.

"Dude I'm sorry I know you like her-"

"Liked. Past tense." Nino corrected.

"Right. But seriously? Marinette?"

"Is that really so bad?"

"I don't know..."

Roll call began and he focused on that. Marinette ran in seconds late for who knows what reason, and tripped hard right in front of him. He gazed intently at her, and for a second their eyes met. She did have pretty eyes, and a rapidly forming blush. She scrambled to get up as the teacher scrawled a note about her tardiness that he could only deem was unfair. For the rest of the lesson she was all he could think about. Not realizing that that was how it usually was for Marinette. Not able to learn that this was the day when all that would change.

It wasn't that hard of a decision, little did he know the decision was in vain. Marinette had always been a good friend to him, had never treated him simply as a rich kid who had lucked his way into modeling. Her eyes were always so hopeful and kind. And she liked him. Seemed to be the only girl who truly liked him beyond his supposedly good looks.

Easy choice, made an hour too late. Her name was on his lips and he had rushed to tell her, to confess that he liked her back. Only to stop. To stare.

Maybe for a year Marinette had loved him. Looking back he could recall obvious devotion he hadn't noticed in his Ladybug obsession.

Her name on his lips, her Nathan's. He gaped for a while, mouth opening and closing, barely hearing,

"Oh Adrikens! Let's leave these face smushing freaks and talk about you and me!" Barely felt Chloe Bourgeois dragging him away.

If he'd known, he wondered, would he still have been too late? And did he even deserve a Marinette, if he was only going to see her as his second choice?

"I hope your happy with Nath..." He murmured despondently, frustrated with himself.

"Did you say something Adrien?" Chloe asked before continuing talking about herself.

The rest of the day was hard. When called upon to protect Paris he did so lackluster. He noticed Ladybug had a content spring in her step. He attempted to remain positive, so as to not lose her as a friend. But it wasn't the same. There were no cat puns, no miladys, and when Paris was restored no bump it. At the time he simply couldn't.

But he got better. Grew stronger and less mopey. Marinette was something special and Ladybug was too, however he couldn't be upset that two special miladys were still his close friends. And though seeing Marinette with her new boyfriend made him think of what he had missed out on, the whole thing taught him something.

Next time he found someone special he wasn't waiting.


	4. Alya

**Alya chapter was requested so that's what I'm gonna give you. ENJOY!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters and don't know who does.**

* * *

She was clueless.

Marinette didn't love Nathan!

Except, apparently she did.

How could she not think to tell her _best_ friend?!

Alya was a tad huffy as she walked with Nino later that afternoon.

"What do you think..." She started, her hand intertwined in his. He glanced at her, with one of those quirky love struck smiles she'd fallen for.

"About you? I think a lot of things about yo." He teased, spinning her around. She laughed but pushed him away.

"I'm serious!"

"Alright serious, lay it on me."

"What do you think about Marinette and Nathan? How did it happen? She's been mad in love with Adrien for a year!" Huffy, indeed, that her best friend hadn't spilled, hadn't even indicated that a change of affection was on the horizon. Nino shrugged.

"Nathan liked her back. Adrien didn't even know she liked him until today." Alya grabbed Nino's wrist.

" _Wait WHAT?!_ " This was a shock to her. Adrien, clueless yet adorable Adrien had finally figured out that someone was infatuated with him and... Was only a day late. ONly one day.

"You think he likes her back?" She grilled.

"Do you need to sit down?" He asked, mildly concerned. She mumbled a reply and he led her to a spot below a tree, where she reluctantly sat. She did begin to relax though as Nino began to rub her back, mulling over her question.

"I think it's possible yes." He declared." Her eyes narrowed.

"Maybe it's for the best."

"Maybe it's not!" She argued, hostile.

"Baby, what's wrong?" He rarely called her baby, using the sentiment only in worst case scenarios. She sighed.

"It's just Adrien obviously discussed this with you. And... Marinette _didn't_! She's my girl... I thought she would tell me."

"I'm sure she will when she's ready this is probably new for her, too." Alya sighed as she kept gently rubbing her back, affectionate as always."

"I'm sure you're right." Then, in a few minutes,

"Are you jealous?"

"Of what? Nath's talent? I have my own. Or you're referring to his girl. Again, I have my _o_ _wn_." They shared a kiss and settled into silence, watching pigeons and pigeon feeders, as well as normal citizens going about their day.

And after he had walked her home and said a cheery hello to her mother-who adored him- she whipped out her famous phone and called Marinette.

There was _no way_ she was waiting for an explanation.

Bloggers **never** wait for details.

* * *

 **Short but sweet! Thanks for the request and I hope you're satisfied. I ship Yano (my ship name for Alya and Nino) almost as much as I ship Ivylene (My ship name for Ivan and Mylene).**


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